Budget cuts could hurt police

If Gov. Tim Kaine’s most recent budget cuts stand, state funding for police departments will be back to 2003 levels in the Town of Pulaski, according to Town Manager John Hawley.
Pulaski was supposed to have received $249,812 in state funding to support its police department in 2010, but that figure has been dwindling each time Kaine has lowered the hatchet on the state budget.
In September, Pulaski’s allocation was reduced to $232,500, and with the governor’s most recent cuts in December, the allotment now stands at $228,956.
That means the town is going to have to figure out how to make up for the $20,856 in funds lost to the police department budget.
In Pulaski, the state program that helps fund police departments (commonly referred to as &#34;599&#34; because of the number assigned to the bill that created it in 1979) accounts for a quarter million dollars of the police department budget and covers the salaries of more than five officers.
Hawley said he and Chief Gary Roche are hoping Gov. Bob McDonnell will restore the funding after he takes office Jan. 16. If not, “we (the Town of Pulaski) will try to cover it in our current budget,” the town manager added.
With two of the department’s officers currently serving in Iraq, Hawley said one way of dealing with the cuts would be to hire only one officer to fill in for the deployed officers. Both officer’s positions will be held for them during their deployment.
Prior to these most recent cuts, Hawley said the “599” program already had been cut by $25 million, or 12 percent, over the past two years.
“If they keep taking away our ‘599’ funding, I don’t know what the town will do,” he said.
The funds are available to towns, cities and counties that operate police departments and also meet certain law enforcement standards. Sheriff’s departments are funded under a separate program.
One hundred seventy-six jurisdictions in Virginia receive &#34;599&#34; funding, paying for about 2,800 of the jurisdictions’ 8,500 sworn officers.
In nearby Rural Retreat, 90 percent of the salary of its one sworn officer is &#34;599&#34; funds, according to the Virginia Municipal League.
&#34;For small towns, these state dollars often make the difference between having police protection 24-7 or not,&#34; the league states in a press release issued before the most recent cuts.

Comments

comments

Budget cuts could hurt police

If Gov. Tim Kaine’s most recent budget cuts stand, state funding for police departments will be back to 2003 levels in the Town of Pulaski, according to Town Manager John Hawley.
Pulaski was supposed to have received $249,812 in state funding to support its police department in 2010, but that figure has been dwindling each time Kaine has lowered the hatchet on the state budget.
In September, Pulaski’s allocation was reduced to $232,500, and with the governor’s most recent cuts in December, the allotment now stands at $228,956.
That means the town is going to have to figure out how to make up for the $20,856 in funds lost to the police department budget.
In Pulaski, the state program that helps fund police departments (commonly referred to as &#34;599&#34; because of the number assigned to the bill that created it in 1979) accounts for a quarter million dollars of the police department budget and covers the salaries of more than five officers.
Hawley said he and Chief Gary Roche are hoping Gov. Bob McDonnell will restore the funding after he takes office Jan. 16. If not, “we (the Town of Pulaski) will try to cover it in our current budget,” the town manager added.
With two of the department’s officers currently serving in Iraq, Hawley said one way of dealing with the cuts would be to hire only one officer to fill in for the deployed officers. Both officer’s positions will be held for them during their deployment.
Prior to these most recent cuts, Hawley said the “599” program already had been cut by $25 million, or 12 percent, over the past two years.
“If they keep taking away our ‘599’ funding, I don’t know what the town will do,” he said.
The funds are available to towns, cities and counties that operate police departments and also meet certain law enforcement standards. Sheriff’s departments are funded under a separate program.
One hundred seventy-six jurisdictions in Virginia receive &#34;599&#34; funding, paying for about 2,800 of the jurisdictions’ 8,500 sworn officers.
In nearby Rural Retreat, 90 percent of the salary of its one sworn officer is &#34;599&#34; funds, according to the Virginia Municipal League.
&#34;For small towns, these state dollars often make the difference between having police protection 24-7 or not,&#34; the league states in a press release issued before the most recent cuts.